Free tax assistance a benefit for community members, Chico State students

CHICO -- Accounting students are giving free tax help on Saturdays during tax season at Chico State University.

Students from the university's accounting club and the accounting fraternity Beta Alpha Psi complete a certification process with the IRS's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program before they are able to use the software to file other people's taxes.

About 35 people have filed their taxes electronically this year with help from the students.

The program is on pace to have more people show up than last year, which was the first time Chico State students participated, said Sue Maligie, the faculty adviser for the program on Saturday.

Community members who make less than $52,000 and wish to have their taxes filed for free need to go to Common Grounds, the coffee shop in the basement of the Bell Memorial Union, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturdays through March 29.

The program won't be available March 15 or March 22 because the school is closed for spring break.

Maligie was available to help students when they ran into problems or needed to ask a question about certain filing techniques. Tax preparation students aren't able to access the software without supervision.

Every filer is different and this is a great way for students to gain experience and help the community, she said.

Gabriel Penfield, a student in the accounting club, began organizing students for the program in the fall.

He said he "drummed up" interest in the program and encouraged other accounting students to take the online IRS certification and code of ethics tests.

"It's a good experience to come in and have someone knowledgeable able to help," said Marin Stratton as Penfield went over her income paperwork.

Another person who used the service was Santiago Castellanos of Chico.

Castellanos had someone who regularly helped him with his taxes for several years, but he said she stopped doing it.

After hearing rumors of changes to tax filing because of the Affordable Care Act, he decided to have the students help him when he read about the free program in the newspaper.

"I think this will be a great thing," he said. "It helps them and it helps us because I guess they're learning to become professionals."